LeBreton Move is Back On

The National Capital Commission has announced Capital Sports Development Inc. as the preferred proponent for the “major attraction” component of LeBreton Flats, which is a consortium that includes the Ottawa Senators.

For the proposal, the Sens have partnered with Sterling Project Development, Populous, Tipping Point Sports and Live Nation. Populous is the design firm behind T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

The specific parcel of land on LeBreton is located on Albert, between Preston and City Centre - the large orange block on the image below. For those who have been following along since the original process, that’s just a bit southwest from where it was in the original RendezVous LeBreton plan from 2015 (right in the middle).

The development includes the arena, as well as mixed use development around it. Other than the very basic definition of that including commercial and residential space, the only information we have is that it will include affordable housing.

On the design side, it is still in the “very early stages” so the final product could end up looking a lot different from the concept image they released today. This also means that specifics about the building - seating capacity, amenities, etc - are still to be determined.

There’s still a lot of work to be done - a memorandum of understanding has been signed, but the long term lease agreement is still pending. The NCC’s goal is to have that signed by the fall of 2023. Design, municipal permits, etc, are expected to be finalized in the same timeframe, hopefully leading to shovels in the ground shortly after the deal is signed, sealed and delivered.

It will still be a few years until puck drops downtown - but we’re back to being able to look forward to it instead of just dreaming about it.

You can read the NCC’s press release here.

Update: The NCC’s presentation slides have some other pieces of concept art, and provide an overall timeline for the project.